The South African team became successful in leveling the three-match T20I series 1-1 in Centurion as they have won the 2nd T20I by 6 wickets as they chased down a target of 189 in 18.4 overs. India might have lost the match but their batting unit especially Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni stepped up on the occasion and India skipper Virat Kohli hailed their efforts.

During the post-match presentation, Kohli praised the efforts of Dhoni and Pandey, he said, “Tough one for the bowlers. We were looking at 175 with the loss of early wickets. Manish and Raina batted well initially. Manish and MS were outstanding to get to 190. I thought that was a winning total. But the constant drizzle made it difficult from the 12th over onwards.”

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Kohli also admired the control shown by the South Africa batsmen while chasing a tricky total, he said, “Credit to the SA batsmen. Klaasen and Duminy really batted well. They were very positive. Good from the spectator point of view. You don’t want the play to be stopped. Once the game was continued in the first innings, we knew it was going to be continued throughout. You don’t mind these things. We didn’t have problems with that.”

Talking about the rain, Virat insisted that the conditions were “fine” to play, he described, “There was a constant drizzle, wasn’t too drastic at any stage. It was fine to play in. Not just the case with the short boundary, the ball travels here anyway. With the drizzle, the wicket settled down. The ball was difficult to grip too. They took calculated risks. They targeted the short boundary and it came off for them. They deserve to win. We expect them to show some fight. They showed the passion which is needed to win games of cricket. They deserved to win tonight.”

Wicket-keeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen was named as man of the match for his match-winning innings of 6 runs that came in 30 balls. Expressing his joy, Klaasen said, “Pretty special, especially at my home ground. It’s what you dream of as a young kid. Didn’t get such a surface last season with the Titans franchise. You’ve got to put the bowler under pressure. If you’re a one-dimensional player, these guys will figure you out. Comfortable with where my game is at the moment. Enjoying my cricket for the last year and a half.”

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South Africa skipper JP Duminy too expressed his delight of leveling the series in Centurion. He further went on to appreciate the bowling efforts of the Proteas. He said, “At the toss, we spoke about this being a S/F. The way we started with the ball was exceptional. They gained momentum in the last five overs but our batsmen showed composure. Pretty easy win in the end.”

Duminy concluded by stating how they managed to keep with the DLS system, he said, “We tried our utmost to keep with the DLS system. In the end, it worked in our favor because it gave us the freedom. It was raining a bit in our bowling innings as well. We knew we had to set the tone for a good first over. They came at us a bit but it was key to pick wickets in the powerplay. To take down 189 was a pretty good effort. Certainly will be a good crowd for Cape Town. Hopefully, we can put up a good spectacle.”